Chad and I were waiting mid pack for the race to start and Erik the race director had everyone move up before the start and then all of a sudden Chad and I looked at each other and somehow we ended up at the very back of the start. We had 71 starters for Cat 4's so it was a pretty big field and the rain had stopped so that was even better. The first few miles were pretty chill and going up the first climb was ok until we got to the downhill and everyone seemed to be pussy footin down. There was a gap that opened up so we had to weave our way through and then chase back on once we got to the flats. Just as we caught back on I reached down to grab my only water bottle and just as I grabbed it we hit a bump and it launched out of my hand. Dang. That really had me stressed out for a while. The 2nd climb seemed to be a easier than I remember it and we stayed together and we (cycleu) all seemed to be close to the front of the race. Erik was a great teammate and loaned me a water bottle. Thanks again Erik. Farestart (IJM thumbprint) went on a couple attacks and they seemed to be the only team that animated the race. Again the yellow and black team with a spot of blue had huge numbers and seemed to only take up space and not do much. The 2nd lap was going to be tough and I knew I had to be at the front coming up to the first climb. The last 2 years I have raced IVRR its been the 2nd lap on the first climb that has been the death of me. It seemed to be the same this year. Everyone came by me and I was having the hardest time getting my legs to turn over and they felt like they were about to explode. Once I got to the top of the climb the pack was all blown apart with several individuals by themselves. Once I got down to the flats there were 3 of us working together a bit but we were all pretty wiped out still. I struggled and then decided I should just pull my leg warmers down because it felt like they were cutting off a bit of circulation. Sure enough when I got them pulled down my legs felt immediately better. So I have some nice Specialized leg warmers for sale if anyone is interested, size is Medium. The pack of 3 grew to 8 then the next thing I knew when I rotated off the front we must of had close to 20. The 2nd climb I had a good rythem and seemed to pass everyone that was in front of me. On the down hill I patted my butt and told the guys behind me to sit on my wheel. We carved the downhill pretty good and continued to catch guys. I could see Erik in the group ahead of us. With about 5 miles to go we caught his group.My new goal now was to win the bunch sprint. I guessed we had about 30 now in our group so I was sure it was going to come to a sprint. We came around the corner and saw the 1k to go sign and then with about 800 meters to go we could see a car parked in our lane and 2 guys picking themselves up off the pavement. We all slowed when we came by them. I was still in the top 8 and we started ramping up for the finale. All the cars were gone and it was wide open again. I moved to 4th wheel behind a Olympic Orthopaedic guy with the red and black kits. He was a pretty big and strong looking guy so I stayed on his wheel until we hit the 200m sign. I went to the right of him and then launched my sprint. I won the sprint but finished 25th!
Glad to have Chad on the podium again as he finished 3rd! Although I finished 25th I was actually pretty happy with my fitness. I show on my Polar we had an average of 22 mph and a max of 48 mph.
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